Orange set to extend benefits to gay workers' families

Orange County leaders are poised Tuesday to extend benefits to the domestic partners and children of gay employees, a move that would mark another significant victory for local rights activists.

Five months ago, Orange leaders passed a human-rights ordinance that extended discrimination protections in local businesses and workplaces to gays, lesbians and transgender residents.

On Tuesday, commissioners are expected to approve a change to personnel policies that would give the families of gay workers the same life, health, dental, bereavement and other benefits that heterosexual employees receive.

"It's a giant step," said former Commissioner Linda Stewart, who initially championed the policy change.

If approved, the policy change would take effect Jan. 1. Several other cities and counties in Florida have already extended similar benefits to gay workers, including Orlando, Gainesville, Tallahassee, Tampa and Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

The measures' passage would also deliver on newly elected Mayor Teresa Jacobs' promise to enact these changes early in her term.

"Seeing the mayor step up and make this a priority for the first few months in office, it's been refreshing and exciting," said Joe Saunders, state field director for the gay-rights group Equality Florida. "She saw this as a problem, and she saw this as unfair. And she did something about it."

The push to offer benefits and anti-discrimination protections has come from members of the Orlando Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Committee, a coalition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender leaders.

They argue the issues are essentially about fairness, but passing the changes would also send a message to the business community that Orange County respects diversity.

And to now, activists have enjoyed surprisingly smooth campaigns on both fronts. No one spoke against last year's human-rights ordinance when it passed, and no significant opposition is expected Tuesday.

By contrast, city of Orlando leaders endured bitter opposition when it passed similar discrimination protections in 2002.

When these issues first surfaced at the county last year, former Mayor Rich Crotty balked and listed potential costs to taxpayers as a chief concern. However, Crotty later reversed course and embraced the anti-discrimination ordinance but left the issue of extending domestic-partner benefits to Jacobs.

Attorney Mary Meeks was the chief liaison working on the benefit changes with Jacobs, her staff and one of the mayor's key advisers, Kevin Shaughnessy.

Meeks said advocates did not get all their concerns addressed. For instance, they plan to work with Jacobs next on establishing a domestic-partner registry in the county.

Advocates argue that registries allow adults in long-term relationships who can't marry to secure the right to visit loved ones in a hospital, for instance.

"Mayor Jacobs has come a long way, and certainly in the last year, in understanding the issues that confront the gay community, and has even become an advocate in some ways," Meeks said.

Jacobs said she's still researching domestic-partner registries, and "the issue is not dead."

But the mayor said a clear case can be made now for extending benefits to gay workers because it's "fair and conscientious to all aspects of our community."

"It's about who we are and how we present ourselves as a community," Jacobs said, adding that it's also an issue business leaders are increasingly concerned about.

Only Commissioner Fred Brummer has voiced opposition to Tuesday's proposed policy changes, saying it's not a philosophical resistance, but a fiscal one.

"There's got to be some [financial] impact," Brummer said.

But county Human Resources Director Ricardo Daye said that, based on employer surveys, Orange officials expect less than a 1 percent increase in the number of participants in benefit programs, so the overall cost would be "negligible."

When commissioners vote on the policy change, Brummer plans to be at a previously scheduled family event in South Florida and will not be present to vote against the plan, he said.